Converting maintenance and engineering tasks in a long-range schedule into work packages with the large number of work cards, resource requirements, and constraints driving the production of the work is one of the most complex and challenging duties faced by expert planners and schedulers.
Historically, producing realistic schedules and estimating project completion dates has been difficult. Much of this difficulty is due to the inability of planners and schedulers to accurately project the amount and extensiveness of repairs that routine inspection work will generate. For example, in some large maintenance industries, there is a series of inspections that is performed on the unit being serviced at the beginning of every maintenance event. It is from these inspections that planners and schedulers determine the actual amount of work required to complete the required maintenance project. However, modern planning systems fail to utilize this information in a meaningful way. What is needed is a planning system that takes into account historical knowledge.